A voice mail system is a record and playback system that allows a caller to record a message for a designated recipient, or subscriber, who is not available to take the call at the time the call is received in the system. The caller's message is typically digitized and stored in a central memory device and associated with the designated recipient's "mailbox address." Only the designated subscriber can subsequently retrieve the messages associated with his or her mailbox address. The set of messages designated as being for a single subscriber is commonly referred to as the subscriber's "voice mailbox," although the messages for a single subscriber may be stored throughout the memory device, rather than being stored together in one area of the device.
In some voice mail systems, such as systems commercially available from Octel Communications Corporation, VMX, Inc., and IBM Corporation, if the caller calls from a telephone from within a PBX with which the system is associated, the system will identify the caller by name, by matching the extension from which the caller is calling with an audio file, such that the name of the caller recorded in the caller's own voice may be played, e.g., as a part of a message header, to the subscriber when the subscriber retrieves his or her messages from the mailbox. However, if a caller calls from a telephone that is not within the PBX, the system will only be able to determine, and perhaps indicate, that the caller is "an outside caller" and will not be able to provide to the subscriber the spoken name of the caller.
Another deficiency of current voice mail systems is that they do not support a user-friendly call screening function. For example, if a subscriber is desirous of receiving or avoiding only calls from a particular caller, it would be helpful for the subscriber to be informed, before he or she must decide whether to answer the phone, the name of the person who is calling. "CallerID" systems are available to indicate to the subscriber the name and/or telephone number of the caller; however, because this information is presented on a display associated with the telephone, rather than announced to the subscriber, the subscriber must be standing near enough to the telephone to read the display and determine whether to answer the call. This feature, therefore, has little benefit when the subscriber is in another room.
Therefore, what is needed is a system for identifying callers into a voice mail system by name, and using such identification for performing personalized caller identification and screening.